Batman The Dark Knight (The New 52) # 4

By Mark Rodriguez

Batman has to find the White Rabbit, who seems to be behind releasing all the Arkham inmates, as well as juicing them up with Venom. The Flash comes to Batman's aid against Clayface. Batman thinks Poison Ivy is involved, and Flash comes along but he gets his finger pricked by one of Ivy's plants. Flash must now outrun the poison,which leaves Batman to face Ivy's lair alone. If you think the Flash suddenly showing up to help Batman, the cameos have just begun.

Issue 4’s “Welcome to the Jungle” has Batman fight off some plants, and sees that Ivy was not in her lair after all, and was most likely abducted. He still wonders who is behind this, and pushes the White Rabbit aside as just a pawn… He then gets a message from Wonder Woman (why????) saying they’re too busy to help him out this time.

WHY DOES BATMAN NEED THE JUSTICE LEAGUE'S HELP TO TAKE DOWN HIS OWN ENEMIES? AREN'T THE BAT FAMILY ENOUGH?!

Gordon is feeling the pressure from Forbes after his little run-in with Batman, and he keeps calling Wayne about it. Gordon had an emo moment there, I suppose. Or maybe he’s just a lonely guy with no real friends. He also mentions the ordeal with the Dollmaker, in which he was kidnapped and had a kidney removed in Detective comics.

Whatever the case, Bats finds his next clue, that apparently Ivy had time to leave behind before she was abducted. Alfred wishes he could tag along to tap that playboy bunny ass, but Bats goes alone on his Batplane.

Throughout this issue, Bats suddenly started having this ‘bad feeling’ something bad is going to happen but not sure as to who it will happen to. He fears it might be the Flash succumbing to the toxin (yay, another cameo so at least he’s not completely forgotten about) , maybe Jaina if she ever found out he’s Batman, or maybe even pushing poor old Alfred to his limits. Naw, a night with the White Rabbit will be sure to fix that. He also worries about stressing out poor Gordon, who’s been through hell and back enough times already. Somehow the White Rabbit just happens to be where the plane flies by and suddenly….

DEATHSTROKE, OUTTA NOWHERE!!

Yes, Deathstroke attacks the plane and rips Batman right out of it. He's also under the effects of Toxin. Batman jumps off the plane as muscle-bound Deathstroke literally slashes the entire thing apart. Batman is lucky enough to break his fall by wrapping a rope around a tree… and Deathstroke… I don’t know… we see him falling as well, but what happened after that is anyone’s guess. But I assume if he survives the fall, he’ll eventually bleed through his eyes and pass out. Batman, however, landed exactly where he needed to be as he ventures into a dark house to find out who’s behind all this… AND THEN WE SEE SCARECROW!!!!

My Opinions

More and more cameos start appearing as we have Wonder Woman and Deathstroke. I guess White Rabbit hired him and gave him Toxin, since Deathstroke isn't one of the Arkham baddies. What really bugs me is the forced inclusion of the Justice League. Batman calling Flash and Wonder Woman for help? I'm sorry, but even though the Toxin induced baddies are stronger than normal humans, they're not Kryptonians or anything. I'm convinced Batman and his gang can take them down themselves.

My only guess is, with the current Justice League comic took place 5 years in the past and shows how they all met, this comic helps to show that Batman is still with the League nowadays. I guess.

The story continues as more cameos will pop up. Stay tuned as we review issue 5 which turns out to be one of the fastest reads.

SNK VS Capcom Chaos Volume 1

By Mark Rodriguez We'll be seeing a few crossovers this month, and we're gonna start with one based on a crossover videogame. If you think the Malibu SF comic series was kinda sloppy, this one was literally all action, pin ups and splash pages, and what little story in it is just plain weird. I'm talking about the SNK VS Capcom Chaos comics made by Happy Comics, translated by Japan and produced with supervision from both SNK Playmore and Capcom. But first a brief explanation on the game this was inspired from. In 2000, Capcom produced Capcom VS SNK Millenium Fight 2000 which would throw the fighters of Capcom and SNK at each other. Unfortunately, aside from Morrigan from Darkstalkers and Nakoruru from Samurai Shodown, the game felt more like Street Fighter VS King of Fighters. Capcom later made Capcom VS SNK 2 Mark of the Millenium with even more characters and variety as well as different modes of play. SNK made their own game, SNK VS Capcom Chaos and it offered a bit more...

Arachna# 1 Review Spoilers

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Goshawk and Falconet # 1 (heavy spoilers so beware!)

By Mark Rodriguez Brought to you by the same studios that brought you Arachna # 1 and 2, we get a brand new superhero duo, Goshawk and Falconet. Let's check it out. The story opens with Goshawk and Falconet soaring through the sky just above Santa Monica Bay. They fly towards a ship that is being robbed. Goshawk tells her to secure the cargo while he keeps the guards busy. The robbers are working for a villain named Black Parrot. Goshawk lands between two of them and bashes their heads together. Just then a third man pulls a gun on him from behind. Goshawk retracts his wings which knocks the gun out of the man's hand. Goshawk knocks the guy out while Falconet kicks the guy protecting the cargo. Falconet uses one of her claws to pick the padlock and finds a room full of captured women. She assures them that they're alright now. On the lower decks, Black Parrot and a woman named Secretarybird think their mission is a success. With the harbormaster being bought and paid for ...

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